Russell L. Kornblith
Top rated Employment Litigation attorney in New York, New York
Practice Areas:
Employment Litigation,
Civil Litigation,
Civil Rights,
Employment & Labor,
Discrimination,
Employment Law - Employee,
Sexual Harassment,
Wage & Hour Laws,
Whistleblower,
Class Action & Mass Torts
Education Qualification:
Harvard Law School
Practice Areas:
Employment litigation,
Civil litigation,
Civil rights,
Employment & labor,
Discrimination,
Employment law - employee,
Sexual harassment,
Wage & hour laws,
Whistleblower,
Class action & mass torts
17 State Street, Suite 3700New York, New York, 10004
First Admitted: 2013, California
Professional Webpage: https://www.sanfordheisler.com/team/russell-kornblith/
Bar/Professional Activity:
- New York, 2015
- Taxpayers Against Fraud
- NELA/NY
- NELA/NY Amicus Committee
- Law360’s 2020 Legal Industry Editorial Advisory Board
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
- California, 2013
Verdicts/Settlements (Case Results):
- Mr. Kornblith represented the relator in a whistleblower action for customs fraud, brought under the False Claims Act against International Vitamin Corporation ("IVC"). The case alleged that IVC knowingly and systematically skirted customs duties on thousands of imports of nutritional supplements from China between January 1, 2015 and September 13, 2019 by fraudulently reporting incorrect tariff classifications and duty rates on the imports. In 2023, IVC agreed to a settlement with the U.S. Government totaling over $22 million. The relator represented by Mr. Kornblith received 20% of the settlement. , 2023
- Mr. Kornblith represented the plaintiff, Dr. Emma Adams, in her disability discrimination lawsuit brought under the Fair Housing Act in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Defendants FirstService Residential California, LLC, Aqua 388 Community Association, and Aqua Maintenance Corporation (Adams v. Aqua Community Association, et al., case # 2:23-cv-02498-SB-JPR). In December 2024, a jury awarded Dr. Adams $7.4 million in damages, including $400,000 in punitive damages. Dr. Adams is a tenured Associate Professor and uses a wheelchair accessible van because she is a paraplegic. The evidence showed that for more than two years, the Defendants failed to accommodate Dr. Adams’s request for an accessible parking space in the garage of her home, the Aqua towers in Long Beach, California. As a result, she could not come and go freely from her home, causing her to feel captive and resulting in extreme mental, physical, and emotional distress., 2024
- Mr. Kornblith represented Dr. Emma Adams in her disability discrimination lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against First Service Residential California, LLC, Aqua 388 Community Association, and Aqua Maintenance Corporation (Adams v. Aqua Community Association, et al., case 2:23-cv-02498-SB-JPR). In December 2024, a jury awarded Dr. Adams $7.4 million in damages, including $400,000 in punitive damages. Dr. Adams, a tenured Associate Professor who uses a wheelchair accessible van because she is a paraplegic, brought her claims under the Fair Housing Act after Defendants failed to accommodate her request for an assigned accessible parking space in the garage of her home, the Aqua towers in Long Beach, California, which caused Dr. Adams to feel trapped in her home and resulted in extreme mental, physical, and emotional distress. , 2024
- Mr. Kornblith represented a class of nearly 2,000 women in California federal court in a class and collective action against Western Digital Corporation and Western Digital Technologies alleging sex discrimination and unequal pay. In 2021, the parties reached a settlement of $7.75 million., 2021
Videos:
Honors/Awards:
- Benchmark Litigation Labor & Employment Star - Northeast, Benchmark Litigation, 2020
- 2025 Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch, Best Lawyers, 2025
- https://benchmarklitigation.com/Lawyer/Russell-Kornblith/Profile/87124#profile, Benchmark Litigation 40 & Under List, Benchmark Litigation, 2023
- https://www.lawdragon.com/guides/2023-07-28-the-2023-lawdragon-500-leading-civil-rights-plaintiff-employment-lawyers, Lawdragon 500 Leading Civil Rights & Plaintiff Lawyers, Lawdragon, 2023
- 2021 Benchmark Litigation Labor & Employment Star – Northeast in the practice area of Labor & Employment
- 2020-2023 New York Metro Super Lawyer Rising Star
- 2020-22 Lawdragon 500 Plaintiff Employment Lawyer
- Rising Star, Law360
- 2019 Benchmark Litigation Labor & Employment Star - Northeast in the practice area of Labor & Employment, Benchmark Litigation Labor & Employment Star, Benchmark Litigation, 2019
- 2018 Benchmark Litigation Labor & Employment Star - Northeast in the practice area of Labor & Employment, Benchmark Litigation Labor & Employment Star, Benchmark Litigation, 2018
Educational Background:
- Exchange Fellow, l’École Normale Supérieure
- B.A., Amherst College, magna cum laude, 2006
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